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Judge Rules Logging Plan Illegal

Posted on: Wednesday, 3 August 2005, 18:00 CDT

Aug. 3--Bush administration attempts to accelerate logging on Northwest public lands took a sharp blow as a federal judge tossed out a decision to stop surveying for little-known forest species before cutting trees.

U.S. District Judge Marsha J. Pechman in Seattle said Monday the move was illegal because federal agencies did not disclose to the public the basis for the move and its likely effects on the species.

The fallout of Pechman's ruling is not clear because she declined to order corrective action, such as a halt to timber sales under way, until she could hear further arguments. However, the government probably will have to reinstate the species surveys -- known as "Survey and Manage" provisions -- or redo its analysis of the decision to get rid of them.

The U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management estimated that dropping the surveys for nearly 300 rare species linked to old-growth forests would save $16 million and allow cutting of about 14,000 more log trucks' worth of timber each year.

Environmental groups sued, saying the move would speed further logging of the region's remaining old-growth forests and endanger the wildlife that depends on them.

Federal agencies argued the species would remain protected in older forest reserves set aside for protected wildlife such as the northern spotted owl. The judge said that conflicted with the same agencies' finding more than a decade ago that the species may not survive in the reserves alone.

She said the species surveys were needed to satisfy the "foundational objectives" of the 1994 Northwest Forest Plan, a Clinton administration attempt to balance logging with wildlife needs.

The agencies must better explain to the public "on what basis they deemed the standard necessary before but assume it is not now," Pechman wrote. She agreed with the agencies on a few points but concluded their analysis was lacking.

It's at least the second recent ruling to overturn Bush administration actions aimed at boosting logging on federal lands. Last month, another federal judge revoked a Bush action that eliminated public review and appeals of national forest logging projects of a certain size.

That ruling restored procedural footholds activists have used to slow or block cutting they say damages forests in the name of reducing fire danger.

Federal attorneys have contended the ruling applies only in eastern California, where it was issued, and the Forest Service is ignoring it in the Northwest. Environmental groups are demanding the judge hold the Forest Service and its chief, Dale Bosworth, in contempt of court for not complying with the ruling nationwide.

In the Northwest, the Bush administration dropped the surveys for rare species as part of a drive to raise logging to levels originally projected under the Northwest Forest Plan. Agencies have not met those levels, in part because of lawsuits and controversy around the continued cutting of large, old trees.

Activists said the agencies can cut costs without dropping the surveys by shifting their logging efforts to the thinning of young, overcrowded tree plantations where old growth and related wildlife are not found.

"If you're not logging old growth, you don't need to do the surveys, and there's plenty of younger forest that needs work," said Doug Heiken of the Oregon Natural Resources Council.

Timber industry officials took heart that the judge did not halt timber sales, and they plan to participate in hearings to determine what corrective action is needed. They said the surveys in some cases may afford the obscure species more protection than the Northwest Forest Plan was designed around.

"If that's the case, Congress needs to step in and modernize and update the laws that govern the management of these federal lands," said Chris West of the American Forest Resource Council.

Larry Bingham of The Oregonian contributed to this story.

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Source: The Oregonian

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